Case Study: Mount Royal University creates an ethical Indigenous learning space with D2L Brightspace

Mount Royal University doubles Blackfoot Odyssey enrollment with D2L Brightspace

Mount Royal University faced the challenge of moving beyond simply including Indigenous content to fundamentally reimagining whether their D2L Brightspace learning management system could itself reflect treaty relationships, ethical space, and Indigenous ways of knowing. This required building new pathways for ethical collaboration and digital design without an existing model to follow, ensuring any sharing of Blackfoot knowledge and sacred teachings was done with permission, reciprocity, and care.

The solution, developed in collaboration with D2L, was the Blackfoot Odyssey, an Indigenized Brightspace experience that centered Blackfoot knowledge, protocols, and visual language through custom design and curricular redesign. D2L Brightspace was transformed into a relational and ethical learning environment. This resulted in doubled enrollment growth, overwhelmingly favourable student reception with increased connection and engagement, and expansion into a cross-institutional model influencing faculty development and sparking international collaboration, demonstrating the measurable impact of an ethically grounded LMS.

Mount Royal University